BJP breaks Kerala drought with Chathanoor win, signals renewed foothold in state
Kollam/Thiruvananthapuram May 4 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) In a result with clear political significance, the BJP has staged a comeback in Kerala after five years, clinching a decisive victory in the Chathanoor Assembly seat.
Former Congress worker B.B. Gopakumar delivered the breakthrough, defeating CPI candidate R. Rajendran by a margin of 4,002 votes, marking a rare electoral gain for the party in a state long dominated by the CPI-M-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF.
Gopakumar said this is a victory for PM Narendra Modi and “it happened through the hard work of our party workers”.
“This became a reality a decade after we became second in 2016. Like PM often says that he is a humble worker, I will also be a humble worker and be with the people in Chathanoor,” he said
Gopakumar’s win is notable not just for the margin but for what it represents, a strategic breach in a constituency where the BJP had consistently fallen short, finishing as runner-up in the previous two elections.
His crossover from Congress appears to have consolidated anti-incumbency sentiment while attracting a section of traditional UDF voters, underscoring a potential shift in local political equations.
The contest also featured Suraj Ravi, son of veteran Congress leader Thoppil Ravi, who finished third, highlighting a fragmentation of the opposition vote that may have aided the BJP’s path to victory.
Celebrations erupted at the BJP’s state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram as early trends confirmed the Chathanoor result.
The mood was further buoyed by a tight contest unfolding in Nemom, where state BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar held a slender lead of around 2,000 votes as counting entered its final stages.
Nemom has symbolic value for the BJP, having delivered the party its first-ever assembly seat in Kerala in 2016 through O. Rajagopal.
However, the party failed to retain it in 2021, making the current performance closely watched.
Taken together, the Chathanoor victory and the competitive showing in Nemom suggest a renewed organisational push by the BJP in Kerala.
While it remains to be seen whether this momentum can be sustained, the latest results point to an evolving political landscape where the party is seeking to convert incremental gains into a durable electoral presence.
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